Continental Airlines President Martin R. Shugrue quit his job today, a year and a day after joining the carrier after a long career at Pan Am Corp. Continental, a subsidiary of giant Texas Air Corp., said it has no plans to seek a successor. His departure occurred two months after D. Joseph Corr, a former Trans World Airlines Inc. president and close associate of financier Carl Icahn, joined Continental as its chairman.

The chairmen of Pan American World Airways and United Airlines said here Tuesday that they expect President Reagan and the U.S. Transportation Department to approve by September United's planned purchase of Pan Am's Pacific routes. C.

Pan American World Airways has agreed to a new contract with its pilots that gives them a major stake in the company in return for $55 million in concessions, a published report said Wednesday. Under terms of the four-year contract, the pilots agreed to $30 million in wage concessions and $25 million in the form of more flexible work rules, The New York Times reported. The pilots in return would receive a "substantial" amount of stock.

The chairman of Pan American Corp. said Tuesday that the troubled airline company will be profitable this year, but some shareholders, weary from years of losses, called on him to resign. However, Chairman C. Edward Acker said after the firm's annual meeting in Los Angeles: "I came here to do a job, and I'm going to do it." The company's principal subsidiary is Pan American World Airways.

American Airlines and Pan American World Airways will combine their frequent flyer programs and Pan Am will join American's Sabre computerized reservations system, the chairmen of the two carriers announced Monday. The consolidation of American's AAdvantage and Pan Am's WorldPass frequent flyer programs on June 1 will allow club members of either airline to accrue and redeem miles on the other carrier. The programs, however, will retain their individual marketing identities.

Leaders of striking ground workers met with the chairman of Pan American World Airways on Thursday but said that they saw no easy resolution of the 2-week-old walkout that has grounded many of the airline's flights. The meeting followed the first bargaining session between negotiators for Pan Am and the Transport Workers Union since the strike began Feb. 28. The session lasted less than two hours, and union officials said that they had nothing new to report.

In an effort to achieve greater use of its giant A300 Airbus fleet, part of which sits on the ground for many hours at night, Pan American World Airways plans to launch an overnight cargo service that also will carry passengers at greatly reduced prices, C. Edward Acker, chairman and chief executive of the airline's parent company, said Tuesday.

Pan American World Airways announced Wednesday that it is cutting its management employment costs by 20% through layoffs and salary freezes and asked its unions to begin talks toward cutting labor costs by an equal percentage. Pan Am said it told a meeting of the unions' Joint Labor Council, attended by leaders of all the unions except the Transport Workers Union, that it plans to eliminate 464 management positions and freeze management salaries.

Troubled Pan American World Airways indicated strongly Wednesday that it is shopping for potential merger partners and has engaged Citicorp Investment Bank to provide "financial, as well as merger and acquisition advice." Pan Am said the Citicorp unit "will review and evaluate the various options available to Pan Am Corp."

The Independent Union of Flight Attendants has told its 6,000 members at Pan American World Airways to cross picket lines set up by striking ground workers and return to work, the airline said Wednesday. Jeff Kriendler, a Pan Am vice president, said that, if the union's members comply with the order, the financially troubled airline will be able to expand service, which has been curtailed by the strike.